Westford (Id. No. 3198)
1918-1919
The Navy retained the name carried by this ship at the time she was acquired.
(Id. No. 3198: displacement 12,175; length 423'9"; beam 54'0"; depth of hold 29'9"; draft 23'11 " (mean); speed 9.0 knots; complement 89; armament 1 5-inch, 1 3-inch)
Westford, sometimes referred to as West Ford, and originally named War Diana , was a steel-hulled, single-screw cargo ship launched under a U.S. Shipping Board (USSB) contract on 2 July 1918 at Seattle, Wash., by the Ames Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. She was taken over by the Navy for operation by the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS), assigned the identification number (Id. No.) 3198, and commissioned on 2 July 1918, Lt. Cmdr. Louis C. Drewson, USNRF, in command.
Departing Seattle on 25 July 1918 with 6,982 tons of flour in her five holds, Westford sailed for the east coast of the United States. She transited the Panama Canal en route, and stopped briefly at Norfolk, Virginia, for voyage repairs before pushing on, in convoy, for France, on 7 September. Arriving at Le Havre, on 26 September, the freighter shifted to Devonport, England, on the 11th. After discharging the remainder of her cargo there, she took on board 763 barrels of lube oil and 2,000 tons of Army return cargo and departed the British Isles on 15 October.
Westford arrived at New York on 1 November 1918 10 days before the Armistice that ended the Great War [World War I]. Loading with Army supplies over the ensuing weeks, Westford departed New York on 16 November. She arrived at Marseilles on 5 December, discharged her cargo, and took on board 2,000 tons of return Army cargo for the voyage back to New York.
Underway four days before Christmas of 1918, the ship stopped briefly at the Azores for fuel before proceeding on toward home. Arriving at New York on 28 January 1919, Westford soon took on board 4,961 tons of foodstuffs and flour and subsequently sailed for Rotterdam, Hoilland, on 16 February. Making port on 7 March, the ship unloaded her cargo and subsequently departed the key Dutch seaport on 29 March for New York.
Arriving at her destination on 13 April 1919, Westford was simultaneousky decommissioned, returned to the Shipping Board, and stricken from the Navy Register on 21 April 1919. She remained under government ownership, laid up until abandoned due to age and deterioration in 1933, being scrapped during that year at Baltimore, Maryland.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
20 February 2024
